Lifestyle

“YOUNG people in County Clare care passionately about making the world they live in a better place for everyone,” says Amy Bickerton, chairperson of Clare Comhairle na nÓg.Amy, a Leaving Certificate pupil in St Joseph’s School, Tulla, was speaking ahead of the opening of Comhairle na nÓg 2009, which will be held on Friday in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis.“Those who are young now will be adults in the future and we are willing to play our part in helping to create that future,” she continued, before adding, “the decision-making structures of the county need to be more open and welcoming for young people”.Amy urged young people to become involved in Comhairle na nÓg through their schools or youth groups.Comhairle na nÓg is an initiative from the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs (OMCYA), which aims to provide an opportunity for young people to discuss and debate matters of relevance to them in their community.Of equal importance …

A 67-year-old Shannon woman scooped the top prize in this year’s national Curvette of the Year competition. Dympna Carthy was announced as the winner of the contest at a gala event in Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Hotel last Wednesday. Curves is an international women’s fitness franchise with a programme that aims to increase energy levels, self-confidence and encourages members to meet new people and make friends. This is the third year of the competition, which aims to find a Curves member who has not only lost weight and inches through Curves but has also experienced positive life changes since joining the Curves programme.After being diagnosed with osteoporosis, Dympna joined Curves in Shannon (which is in Smithstown) in 2006 to help increase her strength. She says the results have changed her life.“I don’t know myself now, I have that much energy. I was very inactive but once I was diagnosed with osteoporosis, I was nervous about lifting heavy things but going to Curves …

A NEW venture for one Clare family and for an Irish company is already making waves as Lifeslim Ireland’s first meal replacement weight-loss programme branches out into 30 pharmacies nationwide.Lifeslim is the brainchild of Holly’s Pharmacy and was conceived when Frank, Tom and John Holly noticed a gap in the market for an Irish weight-loss management programme.While losing the pounds for some might be easy, maintaining the loss can be a difficult challenge.Speaking to The Clare Champion, Frank Holly, founder of Lifeslim, explains how the Holly’s developed this product and what the benefits of the Clare programme are in comparison to other “shake” diets. “When I was working in my father’s pharmacy, we have a pharmacy together in Ennis and in Ballinasloe, we had been working with a similar type weight-loss programme for about four or five years. In that time, we got very interested in it as we had some good success with it, so we decided to start …

IT is hard to believe that somebody could have such a far-reaching influence on the history of a country which they probably never visited, as the effect Katherine Wood had on Ireland.Born in Essex in 1845 to a large wealthy landed family, Clare figures prominently in any account of her life. The two men in her life were introduced to one another by The O’Gorman Mahon in Carmody’s Hotel, which stood in Ennis where now you find the entrance to the Abbey Street car park and her first husband was MP for this county. Katherine Wood became Mrs Willie O’Shea and later Mrs Charles Stuart Parnell but will forever be known as Kitty O’Shea. The “Kitty” was probably first used as a derogatory name as it was also used at the time to describe a prostitute. Nevertheless, the name rings down through the years of Irish history although nowadays, if you Google it, you will get more hits for worldwide …

“No water in Ireland? – A joke?” my friends said.Going without water for a week in the cold weather makes you value it and the neighbours who helped out.Getting clear water again, even if it’s cut off most days, made me conscious of how precious it is, and how easy to take for granted. It’s been a chance to get back into routines learnt in countries where water is metered or in short supply. These are simple things to cut the environmental cost of treated water – cleaning teeth with the taps off, putting a brick in the cistern; and as the toilet takes a third of water delivered to our homes, collecting it to reuse later that day – from the shower, hot water bottles, washing the floor. Just a small effort but a reminder about sharing the good things of life with others and thanking God for having it at all. Clean water is rare and precious in …

THIS time of year could be described as “reading and writing time”, for there are hours that we waste watching often asinine programmes on television or falling asleep in front of them. But the cold weather is not conducive to such an activity. Most of us seem to wish merely to cuddle up in front of a roaring fire to try and stop our bodies from shivering. The old ditty “Can’t think, brain numb; inspiration won’t come” strikes one as appropriate. I suppose, however, our spare time could be divided into active or passive occupations, although the latter should at least keep our brains ticking over.In the active sphere, I would include creative craftsmanship, something that nowadays is seldom enjoyed. Games of skill are popular, especially when involving many members of each family. Drawing and painting are also great and allow the imagination to run and the results retained. What, though about writing? It is said that everyone has a …

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Having recently set up support groups for natural parents and adopted people in Clare, a Miltown Malbay resident spoke to Nicola Corless about sexual violence, her unique perspective on adoption and the most destructive influence in her life – guilt Bubbly Australian Traci Stone describes herself as ‘an open book’. She talks candidly about her life, the decisions she made, those that were forced upon her and how being adopted has completely coloured her life.“I was adopted as a baby. I knew from a very young age. I don’t remember when I was told or by who but I always knew,” she recalls.Traci was raised as an only child. Her adoptive father was from the Czech Republic, her mother from Austria. Both were Jewish immigrants to Australia having survived the Holocaust.“They were both suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome from the war. They had gone through horrors I don’t even know. A lot of the other adults in my life …